The Presidential Daily Brief

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Obama Warns Putin as Moscow Readies Law to Annex Crimea

Crimea has spoken, and Vladimir Putin was listening. Russia’s parliament plans to pass legislation allowing Crimea to join the “motherland” following yesterday’s referendum in which 96.8 percent voted in favor of secession. Crimea’s Tartar community largely boycotted the vote, which has been rejected by the U.S. and other Western nations. President Obama told Putin the vote would never be recognized by the international community. EU and U.S. leaders imposed sanctions today, but such measures seem to be doing little to avert the Cold War-style crisis.